The functional and institutional democracy is the crying need of the hour, writes Mohammad Naushad Khan.
Democracy can best be defined today as a system where the state of mind is without fear and where there is enough space for dissent, arguments and disagreement on any given subject. The first resort of our democracy should be in our heart and mind with enough space for other’s feelings and thoughts without any prejudice and bigotry. However, any effort to weaken the roots of democracy will harm not only the spirit of the Constitution but also the essence of India and the trust and confidence of people in democratic institutions.
The healthier our democratic institutions are the greater maturity it will gain. Numbers, logic and reasoning with an open mind should be the hallmark of our democracy because only numbers may sometime turn our democracy into mobocracy. No doubt, we are a democracy, but mostly seen to be democratic during the election and that is why it may not be wrong to say that so far we have achieved only electoral democracy and are still very far away from attaining institutional democracy.
No political party can take high moral ground because all of them have contributed more or less to demeaning the sanctity of democratic institutions in the last 70 years. Political parties have used these institutions time and again to remain politically correct during troubled times or when passing through litmus test on governance.
We hardly skip any opportunity to claim that we are the world’s largest democracy but the fact remains that India was ranked 42nd among 165 independent states on annual 2017 Global Democracy Index (GDI) released by the UK-based company, Economy Intelligence Unit recently. India’s rank has slipped from 32nd in 2016 GDI and its overall score dropped 0.58 points from 7.81 to 7.23. Moreover, India was classified as a flawed democracy in 2017 GDI. Despite pressure mounting in India based on these figures to put our institutions in order nothing seems to have been done seriously other than debates and symposia to strengthen our democratic institutions.
All institutions are falling in line, one after another. The Judiciary, which has resisted, keeping its independent identity intact, is also struggling hard these days to maintain its independent identity. In the recent past we have seen the tug of war between the executive and the judiciary as well as within judiciary, which may raise a valid question as to who would reform the judiciary which is undoubtedly believed to be the custodian of the Constitution. The independence of Judiciary is vital for the functioning of democracy.
Media, which was supposed to keep an eye on the governance in order to remind these institutions about their accountability, has now itself become least accountable to people and hardly bothers about its role and responsibility as the fourth pillar of democracy. Under the nose of the fourth pillar democratic space is shrinking each passing day.
According to Baruch Spinoza, “The ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain by fear, nor to exact obedience, but to free every man from fear…. In fact, the true aim of government is liberty.” There has been gradual degradation in our democratic institutions and the degree may vary from one regime to another since Independence. But today these institutions are under severe strain because individuals have become more powerful than institutions. These institutions take pride in following the establishment line of action without giving any second thought to it thus by harming the trust and confidence the people built up in decades-long time.
These institutions are made not merely by building material rather it is the trust and confidence of the people that make these institutions. Functional transparency is more important than the physical structure of these institutions. Democracy can be strengthened through good governance where the state can play the role of a welfare state for all through justice, liberty, fraternity and equality. In this framework, none is treated as a second-class citizen irrespective of the colour of his skin, faith and belief. Renowned scholar André Béteille observes that the failure of democracy in many parts of the world is at the bottom the failure of its institutions.
Justice MN Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India, in his keynote address during a programme on simultaneous elections in the national capital on April 28 said, “However disenchantment with the institutions of governance produces cynicism which kills ideas and makes too sharp for loyalty to values. Constitutional democracy can work only under institutional safeguards. When institutional safeguards are thrown away or weakened, constitutional democracy degenerates into a populist democracy and soon thereafter into mobocracy or mob-rule which gives the crown to the mob with the loudest voices, the biggest sticks and the readiest fists. When such a situation occurs in a low energy democracy they are unlikely to return to constitutional democracies.”
No doubt we can keep boasting of the numerical and theoretical strength of our democracy but the functional and institutional democracy in order to cherish the true spirit of our Constitution is the crying need of the hour. Unless and until the fundamentals of these institutions are strengthened democracy can theoretically be appreciated but to put it in pragmatic perspective in order to serve the purpose there is a long way to go. We have already passed more than 70 years and how long more is needed to make the dreams of our founding fathers a reality.